Rack-serving unit and order-picking warehouse

ABSTRACT

A rack-serving unit for storing boxes having an open box bottom, including a load pick-up device and at least one substantially horizontally telescopic article transport gripper including at least one rest for the articles for gripping under an article, is provided with a single telescopic gripper pin serving as article transport gripper and having a rest for the articles for gripping under the article in a just unstable position and at least one telescopic flank and/or a telescopic hold-down device for setting a stable transport position of the gripped article. In an order-picking warehouse equipped with said rack-serving unit having storing boxes with bottoms which are open in the center thereof, the telescopic gripper pin includes a rest for the articles of a width which is transverse to the telescoping direction for supporting the article in a just unstable position on the rest for the articles and the box bottom opening being just slightly broader than the width.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority of GermanApplication No.102011084551.8, filed Oct. 14, 2011 for all subjectmatter commonly disclosed therein. The text of the priority applicationis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates to a rack-serving unit and to an order-pickingwarehouse.

BACKGROUND

In order-picking stores or systems as known from practice, therack-serving unit is moving either fully- or semi-automatically intorack or rack aisles, wherein the storing boxes or compartments are of adepth of simple to multiple dimensions of the articles to be held instock. The rack-serving unit loads articles into predetermined storingboxes and retrieves articles therefrom, for instance articles orderedfor individual order-picking in order to deliver these articles toperipheral conveying units. The known rack-serving units widelycorrespond to conventional robots and just differ from these with regardto technical specifications such as degrees of freedom, working radiusand space and kinematics. Handling articles is becoming more and morecomplicated when the packages or handling units by which the articlesare made available are too many-faceted and too sensitive and notransport or loading facilities such as shelves, boxes, trays etc. areto be used. It is difficult or almost impossible to develop rack-servingunits for handling more than e.g. 50 forms of packages and/or for beingadaptable to the changes in design and shape of the packages. In suchcases, a gripper changing system is usually used for robots with smallworking space. However, owing to the large working space and the bulk ofthe load pick-up device, this is hardly possible for rack-serving units.In practice, automatic order-picking warehouses without load pick-updevice presently can only deal with packets, i.e. only packages withsmooth, stable surfaces and a square shape can be managed. Furthermore,the coefficients of sliding and static frictions of the packages have tobe low in order to enable the rack-serving unit to handle such packagesby means of the load pick-up device in a technically comprehensiblesemi- or fully-automatic manner.

From experience, a rack-serving unit with the product labeling BEELAG ofthe Beewen Company and including a load pick-up device has been known,whose fork-like load transport gripper includes two parallel beltconveyors transversely spaced with regard to the telescoping directionand being telescopic relative to the load pick-up device towards oneside of said load pick-up device until they are positioned below theopening of the bottom of the box, load the articles lying thereon at thelower side thereof and pull out these articles from the storing box andplace them on stationary belt conveyors of the load pick-up device. Aseach of the article transport grippers can either be moved in or out atonly one side of the load pick-up device, another article transportgripper that can be telescoped in the opposite direction is required forserving or operating storing boxes provided on the opposite side. Thetwo belt conveyors of each of the article transport grippers are spacedapart from each other such that the loaded or grasped articles mayassume a stable position thereon when being transported either into orout of the storing box. However, the space between the belt conveyorsaccounts for an extremely wide opening of the box bottom so that the boxbottom is merely defined by narrow blades provided on both sides. Thatis why the articles can only be handled by means of loading equipment(paperboard, containers or trays, or the like), thus entailing undesiredlarge additional efforts and diminishing the order-picking warehousecapacity.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure concerns a rack-serving unit or an order-pickingwarehouse for handling articles without loading equipment even in caseswhere a plurality of articles are being handled at one go. One aspect ofthe disclosure is to handle a variety of different packaging or packagecategories, in particular for beverages, without modifying therack-serving unit and without any further loading equipment beingrequired, for instance such as tetra-packs in half-open paperboardcontainers of 12, bottle six-packs welded together with a foil,paperboards with wine bottles, PET-bottle packages of 8 2-COKE™ packswith integrated self-supporting rigid plastic tray, FRIDGE MATE™packages in the form of longitudinal paperboards with a double row ofabout 12 beverage cans, conventional returnable beer crates,conventional returnable beverage crates in general, packages includingcans or jars of tinned food in an open paperboard carrier or the like.

According to the present disclosure, and as illustrated in the drawingFigures, in addition to the transport function in the telescopingdirection, a telescopic gripper pin is provided which fulfills asupporting function by means of the narrow rest or support for articles;both being stabilized by the assistance of either the telescopic flanksand/or the telescopic hold-down device either from the sides and/or fromabove. Due to its narrow rest for articles, the telescopic gripper pinis suitable for handling a large variety of different packaging andpackage categories, coupled with the decisive advantage of a narrow boxbottom opening of a storing box which receives the articles in a stablemanner without the assistance of any loading equipment. Any articlemotion in the telescoping direction is conducted together with thetelescopic gripper pin and the telescopic flank/s ensuring the stabletransport position and/or the hold-down device, respectively. Whenoperating, the rack-serving unit can quickly handle an article or anumber of articles or packages at a time and without being assisted byany loading equipment, with no laborious or complex constructions beingprovided either at the storing box or at the rack, and is able to dealwith a plurality of e.g. beverage packages which are only restricted bythe width of the box bottom opening. As no loading equipment isnecessary, also no additional conveyor technique for returning theloading equipment is being required.

To this end, the load pick-up device comprises on both sides of thetelescopic gripper pin, preferably even with lateral spaces separatedfrom the telescopic gripper pin, parallel belt or band conveyors,wherein one or a plurality of the belt or band conveyors can each bedriven in the telescoping direction either individually or in a coupledmanner and, where applicable, are positioned one after the other. Areasonable number of consecutively arranged belt or band conveyorscorresponds to the number of articles which are consecutively stored inthe rack and can be handled by the telescopic gripper pin at one go.Each of the articles will find a stable position on the belt conveyors.Furthermore, if need be, such belt or band conveyors assist thetelescopic gripper pin during the last or the first phase of motionwhile removing or entering articles. One or more of the belt or bandconveyors consecutively arranged in the telescoping direction at eachside of the telescopic gripper pin allow that one or more articles cantemporarily be stored or stacked on the load pick-up device. Beyondthat, such belt or band conveyors can be used to convey articles toperipheral conveyor equipment during order-picking or stockpiling.

The order-picking warehouse, which can be used without loading equipmentfor most diverse forms of packages or articles, comprises e.g. simplehigh racks including storing boxes with very small box bottom openings,thus allowing a high technical degree of freedom in the rackconstruction, i.e. also any box depth which merely depends on thephysical capability of the telescopic gripper pin. The order-pickingwarehouse allows for rapid and trouble-free stockpiling and individualorder-picking of ordered articles upon transmittal to peripheralconveying and order-picking devices.

A rack-serving unit can move horizontally in a rack aisle, thusoperating a rack level or, for many applications, a plurality of racklevels. A vertical movement is performed substantially by means of alifting device which can be moved vertically along the rack-servingunit. The lifting device can be provided with one or a plurality of loadpick-up devices serving, as in case of the present disclosure, forreceiving and storing the articles to be transported, on the one hand,and, on the other hand, for storing the articles on the rack-servingunit in a stable manner. Receiving and storing is done by means of thetelescopic gripper pin and the telescopic flank/s and/or the hold-downdevice ensuring a stable transport position. Stable positioning on therack-serving unit is done in addition to the telescopic gripper pin bymeans of a conveying element or depositing equipment.

Even though the telescopic gripper pin might be relatively lifted orlowered by making use of corresponding movements of the lifting deviceat the rack-serving unit itself, the telescopic gripper pin can beeither lifted or lowered relative to the lifting device, according to asuitable embodiment, with high performance being required. To this end,an additional lifting mechanism which is able to bear articles can beprovided between the lifting device and the telescopic gripper pin. Forstoring or for removing an article, the lifting device may be orientedin advance with regard to the box bottom. For removing articles, thetelescopic gripper pin will be or has been lowered and telescoped belowthe box bottom opening and then lifted until the article is being liftedfrom the box bottom, wherein it can transfer the article or the articlesby means of the telescopic flanks and/or the telescopic hold-down devicefrom the storing box directly to the load pick-up device. For storingarticles, the articles will be lifted onto and by means of thetelescopic gripper pin and telescoped in the region of the box bottomopening into the storing box and will then be lowered until the articlesrest on the bottom of the box, wherein the article or the articles canbe stabilized during such storing process by means of the telescopicflanks and/or the telescopic hold-down device.

An especially suitable embodiment is characterized in that one and thesame individual telescopic gripper pin can be telescoped relative to theload pick-up device optionally towards each side and, preferably, whenin the retracted state, flushes with about the outer contour of theplatform of said load pick-up device so as to not interfere whilearticles are either being picked-up or delivered to peripheral conveyorequipment. However, it shall not be ruled out by such a concept toprovide the lifting device with two inversely operating telescopicgripper pins.

In a suitable embodiment, two telescopic flanks are providedsymmetrically to the telescopic gripper pin, which are e.g.synchronously driven together with said telescopic gripper pin and eachallow for a stable transport position on the telescopic gripper pin. Forhandling articles of diverse widths, the flanks can be adjustedtransversely with regard to the telescoping direction or are providedwith transversely adjustable article supporting elements. The flanks getinto contact, either if the telescopic gripper pin is either lifted orlowered or after being lifted or lowered.

Alternatively or additionally, the telescopic hold-down device isprovided and either adjustably arranged at the load pick-up device invertical direction or equipped with at least one article supportingelement which is adjustable in the vertical direction. The hold-downdevice or the article supporting element thereof is conveniently loweredwhile or after the telescopic gripper pin is lifting so as to be able topick up one or several articles. When racking up articles, the hold-downdevice acting on said articles may either remain static while thetelescopic gripper pin is being lowered or can also be lowered so as toenable a stable transport position until the articles are positionedonto the bottom of the box.

In a suitable embodiment, two of the belt or band conveyors opposingeach other in the load pick-up device respectively form a motion-coupledpair on both sides of the telescopic gripper pin. To this end, a commonmotion-reversible drive may be provided for the pair, or two coupledmotion-reversible drives may be provided for one belt or band conveyor,respectively.

In a suitable embodiment, at least one carrier is provided at thetelescopic gripper pin and/or on at least one flank and/or at thehold-down device, which is switchable between an article grippingsetting and a passive setting. In the article gripping setting, thecarrier prevents articles or packages from slipping beyond the end ofthe telescopic gripper pin.

In another suitable embodiment, the rest or support for the articles ofthe telescopic gripper pin and/or the flank and/or the hold-down deviceare provided with knob structures of a flexible material, preferably atleast one knob row of a semi-flexible material. The knob structure mayeither serve to improve the pressure distribution acting on thearticles, in particular between the telescopic gripper pin and thearticles, or prevent damages on the articles caused by bruises, and, atthe same time, may also severely increase the friction acting on thearticles, so that the articles possibly may be either inserted or pulledout even when in contact or in slight contact with the bottom of thebox.

In order to diminish the instability of the articles lying on the restor support, the knob structure, especially that one provided on thetelescopic gripper pin, may be flexibly resettable and designed andarranged in such a manner that it occupies a width, when in the off-loadstate, transversely to the telescoping direction and corresponding toabout the width of the rest or support for the articles; however, whenin the on-load state, it is switchable to a width distinctly larger thanthe width of the rest or support for the articles. Even though despitethe narrow rest or support for the articles of the telescopic gripperpin articles are supported under load in a slightly more stable mannerdue to the knob structure, the box bottom opening does not need to bebroader than the rest or support for the articles, as the off-loadresetting knob structure can easily pass the narrow box bottom openingwhile the telescopic gripper pin is lowering.

Suitably, the rest or support for the articles has a width, preferablyin an end portion and/or an intermediate portion of the multi-parttelescopic gripper pin, of just 40 mm to 150 mm, preferentially between80 mm and 100 mm. Owing to the corresponding width of the box bottomopening, the telescopic gripper pin just needs some millimeters of freespace on each side, so that articles of relatively small transversedimensions can also be stockpiled in a stable manner in theorder-picking warehouse.

When the telescopic gripper pin can be either lifted or loweredrelatively to the load pick-up device, it is not necessary to move theentire large mass of said load pick-up device to perform such movementsbut the load pick-up device can be positioned correctly in advance withregard to the box bottom opening. When handling or maneuvering one ormore articles with the telescopic gripper pin, the at least onetelescopic flank and/or the at least one telescopic hold-down devicehelps to provide for the stable transport position of the articles onthe rest or support for the articles, wherein the flank or the hold-downdevice is transversely movable with regard to the telescoping direction,respectively. Accordingly, each of the articles is gripped at one go atleast in two regions, preferably in three or more regions.

In a suitable embodiment of the order-picking warehouse, the rims of thebox bottom opening are about V-shaped and bent downwards in a rounded orangularly chamfered manner. This measure does not only serve to stiffenthe box bottom in the region of the rim of the opening but is especiallyuseful when the rest or support for the articles of the telescopicgripper pin is equipped with a flexible structure, such as a knobstructure, which takes, when in the off-load state, a smaller widthwhile lowering the telescopic gripper pin, due to the roundings orangles, than in the on-load state.

Another stiffening measure is to bend the corners of the box bottomlimiting the box bottom opening downwards. This may be especially usefulwhen the respective storing box is subdivided in several sections in thetelescoping direction.

An important characteristic of the order-picking warehouse is that thepackages, in particular bottle packages, without loading equipment andof different categories and/or sizes of transverse dimensions that atleast correspond to the width of the box bottom opening and each beingassisted by the telescopic gripper pin of the at least one flank and/orthe at least one hold-down device can be managed without loadingequipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

Embodiments of the subject matter of the present disclosure will beexplained in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an order-picking warehouse comprising atleast one storing box and one rack-serving unit while handling e.g. anarticle;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a storing box with open box bottom, witharticles or packages of different sizes and/or categories;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a storing box with two articles beingstockpiled one after the other;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a rack-serving unit in a basic position;

FIG. 5 illustrates the rack-serving unit of FIG. 4 in anarticle-handling position;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a storing box in a handling phase shortlybefore a stockpiled article is removed by means of the rack-servingunit;

FIG. 7 illustrates a subsequently following handling phase with anarticle being lifted in the storing box in a stable transport position;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another subsequently following handling phasewith two articles being conveyed from the storing box to therack-serving unit;

FIG. 9 illustrates another handling phase in another embodiment of arack-serving unit;

FIG. 10 illustrates a handling phase corresponding to that one of FIG. 7for yet another embodiment of a rack-serving unit;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a detailed variant of a storing box; and

FIG. 12 is a front view of the storing box of FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates main components of an order-picking warehouse K, forinstance in the food or beverage industry, comprising a rack-servingunit G in front of at least one storing box or compartment 2 indicatedin broken lines, for instance a high rack, while handling an article C.

The respective storing box 2 is a storing box with open box bottom 3,i.e. two box bottom halves, respectively being fastened to verticalcolumns 1 and limiting, in about the middle thereof, a box bottomopening 4 in the form of a longitudinal slot and having a width W. Eachof these box bottom halves is anchored to at least one vertical column1, e.g. by means of a side angle bracket 5, and serves to stockpile atleast one article C or a plurality of articles C, i.e. each of saidstoring boxes 2 can be of a depth which corresponds to the ordinary ordual or multiple depth of an article C, wherein the respective article Cis of a transverse dimension W₁ in the direction of the width, which islarger than the width W of the box bottom opening 4 and is servedwithout loading equipment.

Rack-serving unit G which can be moved, e.g. on the floor, comprises aload pick-up device M which is almost similar to a platform and can bemoved up and down at the rack-serving unit G in the direction of adouble arrow 6. The load pick-up device M is provided with at least onearticle transport gripper T which can be telescoped perpendicularly tothe drawing plane and can preferably either be lifted or lowered bymeans of an article-supporting additional lifting mechanism 7 in thedirection of a double arrow 7′ relative to the load pick-up device M.According to the present disclosure, the article transport gripper T isa telescopic gripper pin D which is preferably arranged at the loadpick-up device M in telescopic manner, preferably about in the centerthereof and having on top a rest or support 13 for the articles of awidth B which is slightly smaller than the width W of the box bottomopening 4.

According to the embodiment of the rack-serving unit G shown in FIG. 1,flanks F, here multi-part flanks, have been applied, e.g. at lateralsupporting elements 8′, symmetrically with regard to the telescopicgripper pin D and synchronously telescopic with said telescopic gripperpin D, which can be adjusted by means of additional drives 8 in thedirection of double arrows 9 transversely to the telescoping direction.Alternatively or additionally to said flanks F, at least one hold-downdevice N can be provided about above the telescopic gripper pin D, whichcan either be lifted or lowered in the direction of a double arrow 10.Furthermore, the load pick-up device M is provided with at least onepair of belt or band conveyors 11 a, 11 b for which either a commondirection-reversible drive or two rotary-coupled motion-reversibledrives (not shown) are provided for driving said belt or band conveyors11 a, 11 b in telescoping direction. The additional lifting mechanism 7and the belt or band conveyors 11 a, 11 b as well as the supportingelements 8′ (to which, if available, the hold-down device N can bearranged) are arranged at a platform 12 of the load pick-up device M.

The rest or support 13 for the articles of telescopic gripper pin D hasa width ranging e.g. between about 40 mm to 150 mm, preferentiallybetween about 80 mm and 100 mm.

FIG. 2 illustrates a storing box 2 including the box bottom 3 formed bythe box bottom halves which are anchored to the vertical columns 1 viaside angle brackets 5 and restrict the centered box bottom opening 4. Aplurality of articles C of different shapes and sizes and categories areindicated or sketched in storing box 2. Box opening 4 is for thetelescopic gripper pin. The box bottom opening is as narrow as possibleso as to restrict the variety of the shapes and sizes of articles to bestockpiled as little as possible.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of storing box 2 of a depth corresponding to atleast the ordinary depth of two consecutively stockpiled articles C.However, storing box 2 may be of any depth which merely depends on thephysical feasibility of the length of telescopic gripper pin D. Atelescoping direction of the telescopic gripper pin D and of flanks F orof hold-down device N at one side of load pick-up device M is shown bymeans of arrow R.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the rack-serving unit G, with the load pick-updevice M being in a starting position. The retracted telescopic gripperpin D lines up, as the flanks F do (the hold-down device not beingshown), approximately with the contour of the load pick-up device M. Thetelescopic gripper pin D is positioned in the center of the load pick-updevice. The band or belt conveyors (here two pairs 11 a, 11 b; 11 c, 11d) are positioned one after the other in telescoping direction R,respectively, and spaced apart on both sides from the telescopic gripperpin D within flanks F and can be driven independently in pairs,respectively.

The telescopic gripper pin D shown in FIG. 4 can be telescoped towardsboth sides of the load pick-up device M to optionally serve storingboxes on both sides and includes e.g. a slightly broader main portion 16a, a slightly smaller center portion 16 b and an even more smaller endportion 16 c, each possibly having article rest portions 13 a, 13 b, 13c of different widths. The flanks F also include a plurality of portions15 a, 15 b, 15 c, as well as the possibly or alternatively providedhold-down device N (not shown) (FIG. 1). At the end of at least one endportion 16 c, a carrier 14 is provided in FIG. 4 which can be switchedbetween a passive and an article gripping setting. Alternatively oradditionally, such switchable carrier 14 may be provided at portion 15 cof one or each of said flanks F or of hold-down device N (not shown).

FIG. 5 illustrates the rack-serving unit or the load pick-up device Mthereof with the telescopic gripper pin Dbeing extended to its maximumand the flanks F being extended synchronously, wherein at least theportions 15 c of flanks F can be adjusted transversely with regard tothe telescoping direction in the direction of double arrows 9 or includetransversely adjustable article supporting elements (not shown).

FIG. 6 shows an article operating or handling phase shortly before anarticle C is removed from storing box 2 where it had been stockpiled.The telescopic gripper pin D is entirely extended and positioned underthe box bottom opening 4. The carrier 14 is in the passive position.Flanks F are also synchronously extended such that the end portions 15 care arranged e.g. on both sides of the side walls of the article C. Thetelescopic gripper pin D and the flanks Fare correspondingly extended toan extend depending on whether or not an article or articles has/have tobe unloaded.

In the following operating phase according to FIG. 7, the telescopicgripper pin D is lifted in the direction of the arrow 7′ through the boxbottom opening 4 so that the article C resting on the rest or support 13for the articles is gripped in a rather unstable position. Carrier 14has been switched to the article gripping setting. The end portions 15 cof the flanks F are held against the side walls of article C in thedirection of arrows 9 so as to ensure the stable transport position ofarticle C on the rest or support 13 for the articles. Alternatively oradditionally, the hold-down device N is lowered to the top of article Cin order to provide for the stable transport position between thetelescopic gripper pin D and the hold-down device N. The article C islifted from box bottom 3. The telescopic gripper pin D is positionedeither in the box bottom opening 4 or above same. Portions 15 c offlanks F can be placed against the article C in the transverse directionas soon as the telescopic gripper pin D has conveyed the article to thelifted position according to FIG. 7 or already earlier, wherein in thelatter case portions 15 c either follow the lifting motion or the sidewalls of article C move upwards along portions 15 c. The telescopicgripper pin D may be controlled independently of the flanks F and/or thedown-hold device N.

In FIG. 8, the one article C (or two or more articles C) gripped in thestable transport position according to FIG. 7 has been conveyed to theload pick-up device M of the rack-serving unit G by means of thetelescopic gripper pin D and the flanks (or the hold-down device N) byretracting. The articles C have been distributed on the load pick-updevice M by means of the belt or band conveyors 11 a to 11 d. Storingbox 2, in this case of double article depth, has been cleared. In casethe rack-serving unit G is to be moved in the aisle between high racksor in front of a high rack it might be useful to keep the respectivearticle stabilized under pressure of said flanks F and/or said hold-downdevice N, thus enabling higher accelerations when driving therack-serving unit G. If need be, the telescopic gripper pin D (and thesupports against tilting) may operate or handle a plurality of articlesC at a time.

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the telescopic gripper pin Dwhich is provided on the top of its rest 13 for the articles at leastpartially with a semi-flexible knob structure 16, which may beconvenient, for instance, for improving the distribution of the pressureat article C, for preventing damages to the articles, e.g. due tobruises, and at the same time for strongly increasing the friction tothe articles. For instance, according to FIG. 9, there is at least onerow of knobs including inner knobs 17 and outer, longer knobs 18. Thesemay have a width, preferably when in the off-load state, whichcorresponds only to about the width B of rest 13 for the articles. As anadditional measure, rims 19 of the box bottom opening 4 here may be bentdown or angularly chamfered either in a V-shaped or, as indicated at 20,in a rounded manner. Owing to such measure, not only the stiffness ofthe box bottom 3 in the region of the box bottom opening 4 has beenincreased, but the knob structure 16 may also be additionally guidedwhich, according to FIG. 9, broadens at the underside of article C whenthe telescopic gripper pin D is lifted after having passed the boxbottom opening 4 and also helps to stabilize the unstable position ofthe article C positioned on the rest 13 for the articles of thetelescopic gripper pin D to some extent. Yet, the flank portions 15 chelp to provide for a stable transport position. When in FIG. 9 anarticle C is conveyed to the storing box 2 and lowered to the box bottom3, the knobs 17, 18 of the knob structure slightly glide downwardsthrough the box bottom when the telescopic gripper pin D willsubsequently be lowered.

FIG. 10 illustrates the knob structure 16 of FIG. 9, which has beendeformed to a width B1 under the load of the article C, e.g. whenlifting an article C to be unloaded. Such width B1 may be distinctlylarger than the width W of the box bottom opening 4. The flanks F (orthe hold-down device N which is not shown in FIG. 10) may also beprovided with similar e.g. semi-flexible knob structures 16′ which serveas article supporting elements and spread up under load, distribute thepressure and increase the friction. Instead of the knob structures 16,16′ different pressure-distributing and/or friction-increasing e.g.flexible elements may be used, primarily to obtain better protection ofthe articles with regard to bruises or damages.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate a detailed variant of a storing box 2 for anorder-picking warehouse K. In this embodiment, the box bottom parts 3are chamfered downwards at their corners 21 so as to enable angledchamfered flanges 21′ provided on the underside and being of about thesame height to enter the box bottom opening 4 in a sloped manner. Inthis case, the storing box 2 is subdivided e.g. in two sections, eachcorresponding to the depth of an article, i.e. at each vertical column 1a box bottom part 3 is fixed e.g. by means of a side angle bracket 5directing upwards. The chamfered flanges 21′ are suitably formed bybeing cut back at each corner so that the chamfered flange 21′ is of acontinuous height.

The hold-down device N indicated in broken lines in FIGS. 1 and 7 usedto establish the stable transport position of the article which hasinitially been placed on the rest 13 for the articles of the telescopicgripper pin D in a tilting position offers the additional advantage tomake maximum use of the storing box over the entire width, as flanks Fmight be omitted. However, it may be very well conceivable to use boththe flanks F and the hold-down device N to assist the telescopic gripperpin D.

Even though in FIGS. 4 and 5 the telescopic gripper pin D can betelescoped to both sides relative to the load pick-up device M, it mightbe possible to provide an embodiment (not shown) with a separatetelescopic gripper pin D on each operating side. This analogously alsoapplies to the hold-down device N and/or the flanks F which canoptionally either be extended to each side or can be provided at theload pick-up device M two at a time, respectively.

The respectively used high rack of the order-picking warehouse K hereexemplarily is a single-position rack system, i.e. just one singlearticle C can be stockpiled in the transverse direction of each storingbox. Despite most different forms of articles or packages, saidorder-picking warehouse can be served without loading equipment, i.e.without pallets, trays, containers etc. so that no additional conveyingtechnology is required for returning the loading equipment. As thedistance between the flanks F may vary, they can be preset to keep thelateral distance to the article C as small as possible, such distancefinally being rapidly bridged to set the stable transport position.

The rack-serving unit G can manage a plurality of article forms andcategories, e.g. with the most diverse beverage containers. Thethreshold value is to be seen in the width of the box bottom opening 4.Such articles are, e.g. tetra-packs in a half-open paperboard containerof 12, PET-bottle six-packs welded together with a foil, paperboardswith wine bottles, PET-bottle packages of 8 2-COKE™ packs on aself-supporting rigid plastic tray as integrated part of the article,FRIDGE MATES™, i.e. longitudinal paperboards with a double row of about12 beverage cans, conventional returnable beer crates, conventionalreturnable beverage crates in general, cans or jars of tinned food in anopen paperboard carrier as integrated part of the article, or the like.

Stockpiling of articles is not the main function of the order-pickingwarehouse K but making articles available either separately or, ifrequired, in groups, e.g. for fully automatically order-picking andassorting of mixed pallets. The load pick-up device M with telescopicgripper pin D cannot only be used together with a rack-serving unit Gbut may be used with most diverse types of robots as for very commonindustrial robot types, e.g. a portal type, or a SCARA- or buckling arm-or delta-type. The order-picking warehouse K and/or the rack-servingunit G cannot only be used in the food and beverage industry but mayalso be used for the automatic handling of most diverse objects.

What is claimed is:
 1. A rack-serving unit for high rack order-pickingwarehouses including article-storing boxes with an open box bottom,comprising a load pick-up device which is generally platform-like andheight-adjustable and provided at the rack-serving unit and whichincludes at least one telescopic transport gripper which can betelescoped substantially horizontally and relative to the rack-servingunit for gripping under at least one article, the transport grippercomprising a single telescopic gripper pin arranged at generally thecenter of a load pick-up device including a rest for the articles forgripping under the article in an unstable position, for setting a stabletransport position for the article being gripped by the telescopicgripper pin the load pick-up device has, at the side of the telescopicgripper pin, at least one telescopic flank which is substantiallyparallel to the telescoping direction of the telescopic gripper pin,and/or at least one telescopic hold-down device above the telescopicgripper pin, and the load pick-up device includes on both sides of thetelescopic gripper pin one or a plurality of parallel belt or bandconveyors which can be driven in the telescoping direction of saidtelescopic gripper pin, respectively.
 2. The rack-serving unit accordingto claim 1, wherein an additional lifting mechanism capable of bearingarticles is provided between the load pick-up device and the telescopicgripper pin for lifting and lowering the telescopic gripper pin relativeto the load pick-up device.
 3. The rack-serving unit according to claim1, wherein the belt or band conveyors are separated from the telescopicgripper pin by means of lateral spaces and at least two belt or bandconveyors are consecutively arranged in the telescoping direction. 4.The rack-serving unit according to claim 1, wherein the telescopicgripper pin is one of extensible or retractable to each side relative tothe load pick-up device, and is generally in line, when in the retractedstate, with the outer contour of the platform of the load pick-updevice.
 5. The rack-serving unit according to claim 1, wherein twoflanks are provided symmetrically to the telescopic gripper pin and canbe one of adjusted at the load pick-up device transversely with regardto the telescoping direction, include transversely adjustable articlesupporting elements, and a combination thereof.
 6. The rack-serving unitaccording to claim 1, wherein the hold-down device at least one of canbe vertically adjusted at the load pick-up device includes at least onevertically adjustable article supporting element.
 7. The rack-servingunit according to claim 3, wherein two of the belt or band conveyors inthe load pick-up device opposing on both sides of the telescopic gripperpin, respectively form a motion-coupled pair.
 8. The rack-serving unitaccording to claim 1, wherein either the telescopic gripper pin and/orat least one flank and/or the hold-down device is/are provided with atleast one carrier switchable between an article gripping setting and apassive setting.
 9. The rack-serving unit according to claim 1, whereinat least one of the either rest for the articles of the telescopicgripper pin, the flank, or the hold-down device is/are provided with aknob structure of a flexible material.
 10. The rack-serving unitaccording to claim 9, wherein at least the knob structure provided onthe rest for the articles of the telescopic gripper pin is formed in aflexibly resettable manner and arranged such that it takes, when in theoff-load state, transverse to the telescoping direction a width whichcorresponds to about the width of the rest for the articles and can beadapted, when in the on-load state, to a width which is distinctlylarger than the width of the rest for the articles.
 11. An order-pickingwarehouse, comprising at least one high rack including article storingboxes with box bottoms being open in the center thereof, and at leastone rack-serving unit which can be maneuvered in front of the storingboxes wherein the rack-serving unit includes at least one articletransport gripper provided at a height-adjustable, platform-likearticle-bearing element and being generally horizontally telescopicrelative to said article-bearing element, which can grip under at leastone article and can be either lifted or lowered through the box bottomopening, article transport gripper being a single telescopic gripperpin, the rest thereof for the articles being of a width (B) viewedtransversely with regard to the telescoping direction, for supportingthe article in a just unstable transport position, and the box bottomopening having a width which is just slightly larger than the width (B)of the rest for the articles.
 12. The order-picking warehouse accordingto claim 11, wherein the rest for the articles is of a width rangingbetween 40 mm to 150 mm.
 13. The order-picking warehouse according toclaim 11, wherein the telescopic gripper pin can either be lowered orlifted relative to the load pick-up device, and for obtaining a stabletransport position of the article on the rest for the articles, one ormore of at least one telescopic flank or at least one telescopichold-down device is or are arranged at the load pick-up device withinthe storing box width, each being transversely movable with regard tothe telescoping direction.
 14. The order-picking warehouse according toclaim 11, wherein the rims of the box bottom opening are either bentdownwards or angularly chamfered in an about V-shaped form.
 15. Theorder-picking warehouse according to claim 11, wherein corners limitingthe box bottom opening of the box bottom form downwards angled chamferflanges.
 16. The order-picking warehouse according to claim 11 whereinthe articles are packages of different categories and/or sizes and oftransverse dimensions corresponding to at least the width of the boxbottom opening and can be conveyed by said telescopic gripper pinwithout loading equipment.
 17. The rack-serving unit according to claim1, wherein the articles comprise food and beverage industry articles.18. The rack-serving unit according to claim 1, wherein the parallelbelt conveyors comprise band conveyors.
 19. An order-picking warehousecomprising racks arranged along rack aisles, and a rack-serving unitaccording to claim
 1. 20. The rack-serving unit of claim 7, wherein thetwo of the belt or band conveyors forming a motion-coupled pair haveeither a common, motion-reversible drive or two coupledmotion-reversible drives.
 21. The rack-serving unit of claim 9, whereinthe flexible material includes at least one row of knobs.
 22. The orderpicking warehouse according to claim 12, wherein the rest for thearticles is of a width in a range between 80 mm and 100 mm.
 23. Theorder picking warehouse according to claim 12, wherein the width of therest for the articles is measured in at least one of an end portion oran intermediate portion of the telescopic gripper pin.